Yesterday morning, after a hearty Pancake Wrap stuffed with scrambled eggs, bacon, and cheddar – courtesy of Jersey City’s own Brownstone Diner – Step Doug and I set out bright and early to pick up the campervan I intend to spend the next 67 days in. After no small amount of searching around a moderately sketchy marina area, we finally found a small sign pointing to a locked wooden gate indicating we were at the correct location. One problem: camper dude was not. After waiting about 15 minutes, I called what I thought was his cell phone but which turned out to belong to his boss in San Francisco. “Shawn” assured me camper dude was just inside the office and he would alert him. Time passed. I called Shawn again who then advised me that camper dude was “just moving some vehicles” and would be along anon. Finally, after about 15 minutes, camper dude appeared and pointed out my new vehicle:

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That’s right. They wanted a single woman traveling alone around the country for two months to be driving a vehicle emblazoned with scantily clad ladies in seductive poses. And LADY LUCK in big red letters down the side. Because it wouldn’t be at all suggestive for me to pull into a campground full of strangers, pull out my camp chair, and plant myself in front of THAT! A friend commented on my previous post that something I did was the height of badassery. Au contraire-driving around the country in the “Gettin’ Lucky Mobile” would be the height of bad assery. Alas, my ass, is not quite that bad. (Side note: I understand this is an homage to classic fighter planes from World War Two. I’m not dissing the Enola Gay. It worked for her.)

Anyhow, after assuring camper dude I would NOT be tooling around West Texas in this fine machine, there was an extended wait while he readied another. Which then had some further issues as it was not showing as available in the computer. Which could only be rectified by the big boss back in California. Two lovely young women from Dorset England showed up while we were waiting. I’m afraid they may have been gifted with Lady Luck. A better woman may have taken that bullet for them.        I am not that woman.

A mere two hours behind schedule, Annie and I took to the open road in our new home, Marigold . . .

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. . . and instantly encountered: construction, closed exits, school children flooding the streets, and potholes . . . and that was all before we could get out of Jersey City. Out on the open road we tried to make up time, and though our delayed start left us no time to stop for such intriguing wonders as World of Pigeons, America’s Largest Indoor Miniature Village, and an enormous wooden structure labeled “Noah’s Ark Being Rebuilt Here,” we loved the feeling of the rolling farmland opening out before us and the wind in our hair, err. . . ears.

The day was long, the drive was over many rough roads, and we didn’t pull into the campground until twelve minutes to closing, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.